The author Joanna Briscoe shows us her study, where she writes her novels

I have lived in this house in Dartmouth Park, north London, for seven years. I live with Charlotte Mendelson, the novelist, and our two school-age children. There are three bedrooms and two studies.

We built my study, in this picture, on the roof terrace. I love being so near the only tree in the garden. I’ve always fantasised about working in a treehouse and because this room is really light I sometimes pretend I’m in one, suspended in mid-air.

I wish I spent more time in my study. I try to make myself because then there’s no excuse not to work. But sometimes I need to pretend that I have a normal job and I can’t just stay at home. I tend to go to an Italian greasy spoon around the corner. There’s so much noise there that I can almost block it out.

I work better in the mornings, but my routine is really haphazard: it depends what else I’ve got to do. When I’ve got a deadline, I work late into the night as well, sitting up in bed with my laptop until I fall asleep.

My father gave this to me when I left home, aged 18. I already really wanted to be a writer. I have written all my novels sitting at it. The drawers are crammed full of vital clutter – I have an infinite number of pens and stamps

Thomas Hardy photograph

This photograph was taken by Herbert Rose Barraud in 1891. I read Tess of the D’Urbervilles when I was a teenager, and it had a huge impact on me. I lived in the countryside, in this big house in Devon, and Hardy romanticised the environment. I’ve read and reread all his work

Books

I have so many books that they’re piling up on the floor. There’s something reassuring and inspiring about having books around. I have all my father’s ancient Rupert annuals here, as well as first editions of Laurie Lee’s A Cider With Rosie and Nabokov’s Lolita

Game machine

I’ve had this since childhood. My parents would buy all these eccentric antiques. It’s so ancient that it only takes tuppenny bits. It’s loud, clunky and mechanical. My children like to play with it, but it’s a bit hit and miss whether it works

'Touched’ by Joanna Briscoe (Hammer, £9.99) is available to order from Telegraph Books (0844 871 1514) at £9.49 + £1.95 p&p